Hello, and welcome to my first ever fanfiction story. Please read and review!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story. If only.
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse, the aftermath of child abuse, violence and dirty language. Some OOC may happen, but I try not to. I'll update the warnings for each chapter.
Chapter 1 – Misconceptions and the Courage to Rectify Them.
Sometimes, Severus Snape would think about how Dumbledore's machinations and manipulations brought him nothing but misery and misfortune. It seemed to the headmaster, that he was nothing but a glorified errand boy.
The last month or so, he had done basically nothing but following up on unreplied and unopened letters by apparating to the dwellings of muggles, who were fortunate enough to have a magical child, and inform them of how wise it would be for them to send them to Hogwarts. It also seemed that today would be no different from the others. 'When am I going to get time to research my ideas for new and ground-breaking Potions? And why didn't any of them return a letter to either confirm or deny the invitation of their child?!'
Browsing through the meagre stack of letters he'd been given for today, he noticed the name of the boy, who would most likely be the child that would make the next seven years of his life a living hell; Harry James Potter. Forcing his eyes further down the letter, he noticed something peculiar about the address. It was protected from magic?
He would have to make a double check of the archives in the Headmaster's office, to see if the address was different for the first few dozens of letters sent to that pampered brat. With a flurry of movement, he stalked over to the fireplace in his sitting room, grabbed a handful of floo powder from the small jar on the mantel above it, threw it in the fireplace, and yelled, "Dumbledore's office!"
-:SSHP:-
Harry potter was a very confused kid these days. He was sure that there was magic in this world, he knew it!
Weird things kept happening all around him, wherever he went, like for example, last month when the Dursleys had taken him and his cousin to the zoo, he had somehow had a conversation with a boa constrictor, and made it change places with Dudley! Afterwards, of course, he'd received the beating of his life. He still had sores from the lashes, his uncle had used the buckle this time. He was also pretty sure that one or two of his ribs were at least bruised, of not broken. With a sigh, he got up from the cot on the floor inside the cupboard. They were going to start packing to move away today, or at least that's what uncle Vernon had yelled yesterday, when what seemed like a thousand letters, all addressed to Harry, mind you, had forcefully made their way into the house on Privet Drive.
When the letters had first arrived, addressed to Harry Potter, The Cupboard Under the Stairs, Number 4, Privet Drive, Surrey, England, the Dursleys thought people were watching them, and they had moved Harry to Dudley's second bedroom, which resulted in a drastic increase in temper tantrums from the whale, that Harry barely ever addressed as a human, much less his cousin. Well, good things never last, and after a night of spectacularly loud screams from Harry, as a result from him having nightmares, they kicked him out of his new room and threw him back into the cupboard. Not before getting what seemed like a dozen kicks to his abdomen, back and head, though. Sometimes, Harry wondered if he sustained permanent damage from their treatment, but he could never be sure. He was so used to the constant pain, that he had forgotten how it was like to be without aches around his body, be it from beatings, or from overwork doing his chores.
'Well, at least they thought it fit to unlock the cupboard door, Harry thought. It wouldn't do well if I didn't get breakfast done in time. It's not like a locked door is any excuse to not have it done,' Harry added to himself wistfully. He could still remember the last time they forgot to unlock it before they went to bed. That was the last time they broke his tibia. They hadn't even taken him to the hospital until his left leg started to swell. Luckily, the doctors who saw to him didn't notice how they could see his ribs. Otherwise, the beatings would've gotten much worse when they got back home, and he would've probably had to go get it recast.
Getting started with breakfast, Harry hummed a tune he had overheard in the radio, inside his head. The last time he had hummed out loud, he was around five years old. He'd received a punch to his mouth, that had not only made three milk teeth fall out, but he'd also split his upper lip, which now held a faint scar. 'That was just one more to the grand collection,' Harry thought, thinking bad to that day. Now he didn't feel like humming any more.
–:HPSS:-
Looking through the archives, Severus quickly noticed the incredibly large section of copies of unopened letters to Harry James Potter. While the letters were charmed to multiply in numbers for each day passing that they didn't get received, the archive at Hogwarts only had one copy per sending, likely to avoid problems with a case like this. With a heavy sigh, he grabbed the oldest letter in the bunch, and set off to find the blasted brat, so he could shake him and tell him what's what.
While stalking through the grounds, he had an afterthought. 'Maybe I should wait with the brat until I've talked to this Granger girl, I'm far too angry to deal with the brat now, and while I hate his pampered guts, I'm fairly sure I'm not supposed to kill him.' It was with that mindset that he went to see a Hermione Granger, 'Seriously, who names their child HERMIONE?!,' and a Travis Ford.
It was just after 10 o'clock that Severus found himself outside of Number 4, Privet Drive.
With his face set into a sneer, he noticed how all the houses had the same well-groomed hedges, and how every house had the same type and make of car. It was enough to make his skin crawl, he felt like he was in the twilight zone.
Before he could change his mind, his feet moved him up the perfectly paved driveway, and he rang the door bell.
Trying to imagine how Potter's relatives looked like was an amusing little game that he had for the 20 seconds it took for someone to answer the door. The sight that met him, made him raise his eyebrows in surprise.
"Who are you?!", was the indignant squeal from the talking whale, that filled almost the entire door frame. Had they really fed him so much, that Potter had become obese? 'No, that couldn't be right, it's virtually impossible for the average wizard to become THAT rotund,' Severus thought with horror.
"I am Severus Snape, I have business to discuss with Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, are they home at the moment?"
Getting the message, the whale turned around and yelled, "Mom! Dad! There's a weirdo at the door, he wants to speak with you!" After yelling at his parents, the whale turned around and looked at Severus with a look that conveyed something akin to fearful disdain, before he fled up the stairs at an incredible speed.
From further into the house, Severus could clearly hear what seemed like an angry elephant charging towards the door, and lo and behold! The sire of the baby whale was standing in the door, red faced and panting, and with what seemed like a tiny piece of bacon on his chin. They were obviously in the middle of breakfast. As soon as The man-beast in front of him caught sight of his dour, but clearly magic-y appearance, his face turned into the unhealthy shade of purple.
"We don't want your kind here, go away or we'll call the cops!" he said with panic in his voice.
Before he could slam the door closed, though, Severus jammed his foot in the way so the door couldn't close. He withdrew his wand from his forearm holster, and stuck it at the Dursley matriarch's wobbly tripple chin.
"You're going to let me in right now, or I'm going to force my way in, and you're not going to like the outcome", Severus said in a deadly low voice. "Now, move it!"
The subdued beast quickly stepped away from the door and away from the wand's trajectory, allowing Severus to enter the too neat house. He then waved the dour man into the living room, where he was told to sit on the couch. As Severus sat down on the couch, it creaked audibly, and he dipped down a further 20 cm., as if someone heavy sat there often. Severus scowled at this, but said nothing.
He instead watched Mr. Dursley while he was calling his wife into the room, and then proceeded to sit down in the chair at the opposite side of the sofa table. The chair looked like it could break at any moment, and Severus briefly wondered if he should ask to switch places, if only to save the chair from the cheer weight of its current tormentor. After much thought, he decided against it. He could use a good laugh once in a while.
Mentally shaking his head to escape his amusing thoughts, he asked Mr. Dursley;
"So I'm guessing you know why I am here?"
"I don't care, as long as you leave as soon as possible! You freaks are not welcome here!" Dursley exclaimed like a petulant child.
"I see where your overgrown spawn got his manners from." Ignoring Dursley's violent outburst, he calmly continued. "I'm here to ask why the spoiled brat hasn't answered his Hogwarts letter yet. He was due to answer weeks ago."
His calm outside seemed to further drive the other man's facial colour into an even deeper shade of purple, before he answered with, "He's not going! We promised he wouldn't when we got him! He's not going to be like those freaky parents of his! We resolved to beat the freakiness out of him, to turn him normal if it was possible!"
Severus paled by several shades while he was listening to Mr. Dursley's insane rant about Harry, his parents and his treatment, his eyebrows inching closer and closer to his hairline. By the end of the angry man's tirade, he breathlessly said "You will let me see the child now, you fool!"
By then, Petunia Dursley entered the sitting room, looking sternly at her strange guest. 'Lily's horsefaced sister doesn't even recognise me. I wonder if she's still distracted by whatever was going on in that kitchen of theirs when I stepped inside,' he thought, panic rising in his mind.
Severus stood up, and forcefully strode out of the room, down the hallway, and into the kitchen. He was momentarily stunned by the sight that greeted him.
–:SSHP:-
After he had served breakfast, Harry was again released from the cupboard to go clean up the dishes. Sadly, he realised that the Dursleys hadn't left even a tiny scrap of leftovers. 'I even cooked more bacon than usual, they must be doing this on purpose,' Harry thought angrily. There was no way he would get breakfast now. He couldn't turn on the stove again without them realising what was going on, so he started to tentatively clean the used plates, he hadn't notice that the big frying pan was missing. Because he was lost in his wistful thoughts, he didn't notice that his aunt had sneaked up behind him. The next thing he knew, the doorbell rang, and when he looked towards the main door through the kitchen door, he flinched as he noticed that aunt Petunia was standing right behind him, frying pan raised above her head. He silently launched a pleading look at her, and it seemed to be working, as she slowly lowered the frying pan.
She bent down until her head was the same height as his, and then hissed "Stay here and be quiet, freak, and you may stay alive until tomorrow!"
Frightened beyond belief, Harry fled to the corner of the tabletops, where he was not visible from the doorway. Petunia seemed to be satisfied, because she nodded with sadistic glee in his direction, and went into the living room, where she'd heard her husband call for her.
-:HPSS:-
It was in this shaking foetal position that Severus found the boy in a few minutes later. Initially, he had no idea what to do, but after a few deep breaths, and reciting the needed ingredients for the Wolfsbane Elixir in chronological order, and then the other way around.
Well, aside from the whales' reaction to Severus and his questions, there were tell-tale signs of abuse, both mental, physical and several types of neglect. The boy was too thin, and it seemed his malnutrition had stunted his growth. His hair was scraggly and greasy, as if he was never washed with soap. After a few moments of just standing there perusing the boy and seeing that the situation didn't change, he decided that he would try to talk to him.
"Harry?" He said softly, crouching down on one knee. The boy didn't react.
"Harry, can you hear me?", he tried again. The boy seemed to understand that he was being addressed, because he tentatively looked up at him.
"Are you talking to me, sir?" the boy asked even softer. It seemed as if he was afraid of anyone bigger than himself.
"Yes, Harry. I'm here to take you away from the bad people," Severus answered. He thought that his brain would start to shrink and his clothes somehow colour themselves pink, talking to a child like that. He felt bad about his last thought, but he immediately stopped thinking negative thoughts, when the boy looked up at him even more scared than before.
"How do I trust you?" Harry asked, somewhat louder than before, it was almost like this was shouting, according to his standards.
Severus immediately warded the room against the three malevolent muggles, who'd appeared in the doorway, with a flick of his wrist. Then he brandished his wand, pointed it at Harry's head, and quietly said "Legilimens."
It was a weird feeling to keep from perusing the memories contained in the mind he had just entered. Instead, he tugged at Harry's consciousness, and pulled him inside of his own mind.
-:SSHP:-
Harry didn't have any idea what was going on; one second he was staring at a stick that the stranger had pointed at his head, the next second he was sucked into what he thought was his mind. "Is this magic?!," Harry thought wondrously.
"That it is, Harry," Severus answered inside his head.
"How can you hear me?", Harry asked the other presence.
"Our minds are connected, for the time being," Severus said. "This is very powerful magic, Harry. I'll show you a few memories from my own childhood and from my time at Hogwarts. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask them. I will never harm you, I promise. Although, after a while, your head will start to hurt. Please tell me when that happens. Are you ready to begin?"
Harry was wondering why he didn't have an existential crisis, so he chose to take it all in stride.
"Let's go.", He said.
The scenery suddenly changed around him; Instead of the cosy darkness, they suddenly found themselves on a playground, in what Harry thought to be at least a decade back.
He could see two girls enjoying themselves on the swings, but one of them was swinging herself very high into the air.
When she jumped, Harry's heart skipped a beat, but the girl was not in danger at all; She seemed to be soaring through the sky in slow-motion, as if the very air around her protected her from falling too fast. "This has to be magic, there's no doubt about it", Harry thought.
"Quite right, Harry. She was using a home-made charm, not unlike the one that trained witches and wizards use to make objects or people float. This is the first time we met, your mother and I."
Harry's eyes grew so big, he thought they were going to roll out of his skull. "My mother? This girl is my mother? She seems so unlike me", Harry thought. For one thing, his mother seemed to have a happy childhood. He didn't have any more time to think, though, because a tiny, scrawny, black-haired kid was walking towards the two girls. He looked like the stranger beside him, and Harry suddenly realised, that he must be speaking the truth.
"That was magic!", the child exclaimed. "You're a witch!", he said, while pointing at her accusingly.
"I'm a WHAT?!", the red-haired girl answered indignantly, staring at the strange child in front of her.
"A witch", he repeated. "You know, a girl that can do magic". The girl looked disbelievingly at the tiny boy.
The other girl had gotten off her swing, and was approaching the boy angrily. "Leave my sister alone, boy!", she exclaimed. "My sister is special, but that's no reason to call her a witch!"
"I didn't mean it badly. It's what my mother calls other women and girls who can do magic. She told me that I'm a wizard. I can do magic too, you see, but my dad hates it. I'm not allowed to do it in the house." The boy looked morosely at the two girls. "I'm Severus, by the way. Severus snape. I live in that old house over there, on the corner." He pointed in the direction of an old, decrepit house.
Harry thought that that house couldn't possibly be fit to be lived in by people, but that was apparently where his stranger had grown up with his parents.
"I'm Lily, Lily Evans, and this is my sister, Petunia. Nice to meet you, Severus", the magical girl said. She reached out for the hand of the boy, and he took it.
-:HPSS:-
Severus stopped the viewing of the memory as he noticed that Harry wasn't doing so well. He pushed Harry's mind back into his own head and cut the connection.
"Harry, are you all right?", Severus asked the boy, when he found him panting on the kitchen floor. The boy looked positively ill; He was pale, and sweating profusely in his too large clothes. Not expecting an answer, he picked up the boy and carried him away from the kitchen.
As an afterthought, he removed the ward he set up earlier to prevent the boy's so-called family from entering.
He found the muggles huddled up in the sitting room; They flinched when he entered, carrying the boy in his arms. 'Harry is way too light for a boy his age. We'll have to rectify that later. Right now I just need to fetch his belongings and get out of this hell-hole,' Severus thought angrily.
"Where's the boy's belongings?", Severus asked the horse faced woman. She eyed him with a hateful look in her eyes. 'So she finally recognises me. Well, she was never really known for intelligence.'
"In the cupboard, freak", she said after a few moments. As she said it, Harry whimpered slightly. Even though the boy seemed unconscious, she still had a hold over him.
Severus went to open the cupboard, and he was met with a foul stench as he crouched down. As he tried to put Harry down on the ground, Harry whimpered even more, and grabbed the front of Severus' robes with a death grip. 'Change of plans, then,' Severus thought. He reached into one of his outer pockets and produced an empty vial, and transfigured it into a shoulder bag with a wave of his wand. With another wave, he incanted "Accio Harry's belongings!", and help up the bag as the items flew out of the closet with notable speed.
Feeling that his work was done, he promptly apparated to The Leaky Cauldron in London with the tiny boy in his arms.